Gitana Productions

Gitana Productions, a local nonprofit that advocates global healing through the arts, is performing a one-act play titled “New World” this weekend as part of the St. Louis Arts Experience. The play is based on the lives of three St. Louis women who are also refugees from Bosnia, the Republic of Congo and Afghanistan.

Cecilia Nadal, the founder and executive director of Gitana Productions, remembers the first time she met Faraja Lungele, a 14-year-old refugee who came to the United States from Kenya after fleeing the Congo. Lungele would repeatedly peek into rehearsals in the basement of St. Louis Public Library’s Carpenter branch in south St. Louis and quickly return upstairs, without saying a word.

After three or four sightings, Nadal pulled Lungele aside, they talked, and she found out that Lungele loved to sing and dance.

As soon as Cecilia Nadal of Gitana Productions heard about the killing of Michael Brown, she went straight to Ferguson and participated in the protests in an effort to understand what had happened. In the process, she discovered many stories that she wanted to tell so she enlisted the help of playwright Lee Patton Chiles. The result is the play “Black and Blue” which examines the complex relationship between police and African-American communities.

When Cecilia Nadal of Gitana Productions heard about Michael Brown's shooting death, she raced right over to Ferguson. She wanted to participate in the protests and try to understand what happened, but she also “knew that I was looking for something."

Latin and jazz musicians will share the stage at Union Avenue Christian Church Saturday, June14 in a concert organized by Gitana Productions. The concert, called “Karamu: Fiesta of Latin and African American Music,” will explore the shared musical heritage of Latinos and African Americans.

Gitana Productions’ Executive Director Cecilia Nadal is the product of a Puerto Rican father and an African American mother. She spent her early years in the Latino culture Puerto Rico and Panama before the family settled in her mother’s hometown of St. Louis. So she understands the challenges for a person trying to bridge two cultures.

For 15 years, Gitana Productions has presented an annual “Faces of Love” concert in an effort to bring people together through the power of music, dance or theater. This year’s concert features Al-Andalus, an ensemble that performs music that originated in the Southern part of Spain at a time when Jews, Muslims and Christians lived together peacefully, creating beautiful music together.